Individual and Organizational Resources That Give Agency and Provide Nurturing Safe Spaces and Supportive Communities
If you or someone you know is in crisis, help is available 24/7. Text 741741 or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (988 or 1-800-273-8255) or Disaster Distress Hotline (1-800-985-5990).
* In response to the increased need for mental health support, please note the new 988 nationwide three-digit phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
The Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine is leading a collaborative effort with the American College of Physicians (ACP) and other medical organizations to encourage shedding light and help spread awareness through grassroots activities around National Physician Suicide Awareness Day on September 17.
In this I.M. Thriving issue, ACP—along with contributions from Tiffany I. Leung, MD, MPH, FACP, FAMIA—provides curated resources that promote communities of well-being, normalizing physician mental health help-seeking, advocacy tips to change inappropriate credentialing questions, stories that shed light on physician death by suicide and suicide prevention, and easily accessible and confidential emotional support resources that give agency and provide nurturing safe spaces for clinicians. Visit the I.M. Emotional Support Hub to learn more about individual and organizational resources and information to protect clinicians' emotional health. The July 16 I.M. Thriving issue on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion also contains community-building resources that complement this month's newsletter.
We look forward to hearing from you! Please e-mail acpwellbeing@acponline.org with your thoughts and suggestions for newsletter topics and features.
Check out the links below for more resources you can use for yourself and others (ACP Online login required):
- Watch a webinar recording on identifying and supporting a colleague in need, and register for the upcoming webinar “I Wish I Had Said Something: Learning to Be an Active Bystander/Upstander in the Face of Microaggressions.”
- Learn about “Physician Suicide Prevention and the Ethics and Role of a Healing Community: An American College of Physicians Policy Paper,” check out module 3 of the new Resident Curriculum “Promoting Collaborative Learning Environments for Well-Being,” read the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention guide on “What to Do When Someone Is at Risk,” check out self-compassion tools, and access other noteworthy resources.
- Discover stories that shed light on physician death by suicide and prevention efforts and revisit how to combat loneliness through “Building Community, One Connection at a Time” with a complementary action-oriented exercise from Kerri Palamara, MD, MACP.
- Learn steps that you can take to support your and your colleagues' mental health, understand how to proactively change inappropriate credentialing application questions, discover tools for implementing sustainable change, and easily access confidential peer and emotional support resources for individuals and organizations.
- Review the Patients Before Paperwork initiative update on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 2022 Physician Fee Schedule and Quality Payment Program proposed rule released on July 13, 2021.
Please join us on Twitter at #dontworryalone and #NPSADay, post in your ACP Champion forum, and reach out to us any time at acpwellbeing@acponline.org
Sincerely,
Your ACP Well-being Team
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